My article, The guns of Red Dawn 30 years later

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JTHunter said:
The thing I found more interesting in the original was that the characters seemed to have more depth to them. They had more "personality" than the people in the remake did.
While the technological advances in the remake were "interesting", I find it hard to believe that these untrained teens would have had the strength or stamina to do what they did. The "stunts" in the original weren't as "over-blown" as the remake.
Click to expand...
Do you think that had to do with Milius' directing and him being a stanch advocate of the 2nd Amendment?
 
"There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, or search the related logs."

Ok I don't know what the heck is going on but when I do a Google search both pages come up with all firearms. But when I click the link I supplied I get the error message above.

Either way, both movies have imfdb pages.

Oy Gevalt!
 
Funny thing is, my dad lived in the town where the original was based, and was there during filming and now we live in Spokane where the new one was based.
 
FWIW,
I sold Si Stembridge a Russian 75 round drum that he said (at the time) was going to be used in an upcoming movie.
The drums were a pretty uncommon item in this Country back then.

Was at the 1982 SOF convention gun show in Vegas.
I had picked up the drum weeks earlier and did not really have a use for it.

He very politely gave me his card and explained that he was not out to make a fast buck by flipping it, but did have a real need for it.

Easy come, easy go. Don't recall the drum being fired in the movie though.

JT
 
JT-AR-MG42 said:
FWIW,
I sold Si Stembridge a Russian 75 round drum that he said (at the time) was going to be used in an upcoming movie.
The drums were a pretty uncommon item in this Country back then.

Was at the 1982 SOF convention gun show in Vegas.
I had picked up the drum weeks earlier and did not really have a use for it.

He very politely gave me his card and explained that he was not out to make a fast buck by flipping it, but did have a real need for it.

Easy come, easy go. Don't recall the drum being fired in the movie though.

JT
Click to expand...
I think I fixed the links.

Is it in the pictures for the Valmet M78?
 
Went to the IDMB photos.

Only scene I recall a drum in a gun (standard AK-47 IIRC) during the movie was the scene in the
National Forest with the Russian troopers posing for photos before the 'bow and arrows' attack.

Looks like I need to hit the 5 buck bin at Wal-Mart for a copy. It has been a few years.
Maybe the movie got better with time.;)

The drum I sold him did work fine though. Fired 75 through a converted Valmet 62 and it ran like a champ.

JT
 
JT-AR-MG42 said:
Went to the IDMB photos.

Only scene I recall a drum in a gun (standard AK-47 IIRC) during the movie was the scene in the
National Forest with the Russian troopers posing for photos before the 'bow and arrows' attack.

Looks like I need to hit the 5 buck bin at Wal-Mart for a copy. It has been a few years.
Maybe the movie got better with time.;)

The drum I sold him did work fine though. Fired 75 through a converted Valmet 62 and it ran like a champ.

JT
Click to expand...
Try my first link. There's photos under the Valmet M78. It's imfdb not imdb.
 
I thought it was a great movie for the time period. It "spoke" to a lot of things about America at the time. Patriotism, youth, fear of Communism,etc. Rugged country boys that starred in HS football and were raised to appreciate and survive in the wild. A "Country Boys Can Survive" sort of theme. I have seen it many times and still enjoy it. The remake...not so much.
Porky's was hilarious when it came out. I watched it a few weeks ago....not so funny.
Check out the special effects in that old movie Star Wars. Man! That movie sucked! Good thing they didn't try to do a remake of it.
Jaws was about as scary as any movie ever made. I watched it a few weeks ago and it was almost laughable. Can anyone tell I just got DirectTV with all the premium channels?

Red Dawn was plausible because of the real fear of the USSR and the Communist governments in Central America. I can't be certain but I think it was a work of fiction about a war that never happened involving people that never existed. If it was based on real events then maybe I missed it. I was in college at the time so I missed a lot of mornings.
 
One of the better lines in the movie:

"Colonel Ernesto Bella: Yes... yes. Go to the sporting goods store. From the files obtain forms 4473. These will contain descriptions of weapons, and lists of private ownership."
 
The info that 10,000 guns were provided by Stembridge is from Long Mountain Outfitters. I have a link to their old "Red Dawn" page (now archived) in the article.
Click to expand...

The 10,000 number is the entire inventory of what Stembridge had, not the number used in the movie. That part of the LMO article wasn't particularly well written so I can easily see the confusion.
 
Post #20: William Smith.....

RE; post #20, if I recall the officer in that scene was from the USSR not Cuba. The actor who played him, William Smith had a interesting life & career prior to working as a character actor on many film/TV projects. :D
He had a PhD, spoke several languages(including Russian) & worked for the NSA, www.nsa.gov .

I think his 9mm SMG was the same model used by actor Sylvester Stallone in Cobra(1986). Stallone's LAPD Lt Marion Cobra Cobretti used the machine gun in the third act chase scenes. Reportedly, the firearm had to be secured everyday in the offices of a local PD for insurance-liability reasons.

As posted, the first Red Dawn's intent was to show how a oppressive & restrictive government can crush a populace. It also displays how citizens & gun owners will rebel, fighting back if needed.
 
I liked both of them & hope they make another. The guns in both were great. Useing everything from a colt S.A. to a Finnish smg. & the AKs looked like the right ones! Ya I will agree that the stunts were up there, but that's the new Hollywood. They even had the B.G.s useing Makarovs! I hope the next one has some American military wepons being used alot more. Maybe some stuff that the N.G. use. Anyway I will watch #3 if it comes out.
 
My favorite line of the 'remake' was...

"We need better guns."

(That Tec-9 scene was brilliant)
 
Pretty cool stuff.

Howabout a "Guns of Robocop" edition? I dont know if they were even based in reality but I love the pistol he retrieves from his leg.
 
I just rewatched the original. It's on Netflix.

The opening scene brought a tear to my eye.....when I saw gasoline for $1.25 a gallon...
 
Guns of Red Dawn

Field Tester said:
"Can I get a second opinion on this please?
I think it speaks about the subtle nuances of writing and directing in Hollywood and how they're affected when one is a gun owner and supporter of Second Amendment rights.
I don't feel my thread needed to be closed"

My appeal.
Click to expand...

I 2nd that motion.

I saw the 1st "Red Dawn", and still have it on VHS tape. The firearms were fabulous.:D

I didn't know there was a "remake" until today.
 
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RustyShackelford said:
RE; post #20, if I recall the officer in that scene was from the USSR not Cuba. The actor who played him, William Smith had a interesting life & career prior to working as a character actor on many film/TV projects. :D
He had a PhD, spoke several languages(including Russian) & worked for the NSA, www.nsa.gov .

I think his 9mm SMG was the same model used by actor Sylvester Stallone in Cobra(1986). Stallone's LAPD Lt Marion Cobra Cobretti used the machine gun in the third act chase scenes. Reportedly, the firearm had to be secured everyday in the offices of a local PD for insurance-liability reasons.

As posted, the first Red Dawn's intent was to show how a oppressive & restrictive government can crush a populace. It also displays how citizens & gun owners will rebel, fighting back if needed.
Click to expand...
I think Bill Smith's firearm wasn't a SMG, but rather a machine pistol, which I've not been able to identify.

Anybody able to tell what the Russian Colonel carried ?
 
I really liked the first one and think about it often. I tried to watch the new one for a second time on Net Flix but just could do it. However, I told my buddy as we left the theater after watching the remake, "I should not have enjoyed that as much as I did." It was fun, silly entertainment on a one time basis.
 
Pm-63 rak.....

According to www.imfdb.org Smith used the Finnish 9x19mm SMG but it was intended to look/replicate a PM-63 RAK. This was a Polish made firearm used mostly by Warsaw Pact special ops & SWAT/law enforcement units.
I highly doubt the film producers or armorers could snap up USSR or Warsaw Pact guns in the most heated part of the "Cold War" :rolleyes: .

I also recall reading how the Russian character in Robert Rodrieguez's Predators(2010) wanted to use a heavy machine gun used by Chinese & soviet forces but the model wasn't available. The producers then chose the more common M134D mini-gun. It was a "throwback" to the ole-painless machine gun first used in Predator(1986). www.imdb.com
 
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